How does Class Size Affect Learning?
By: Connor Pak
Introduction
As students enter the summer, they look towards the next school year they will be entering, where they will be met with new teachers and new peers, in hopes of growing academically. However, there has been discussion regarding the conditions of the classroom, and its effectiveness in enabling the growth of the student. A major consideration when it comes to promoting the most effective classroom environment, would be the classroom size and population of the student in relation to a single teacher.
Confusion Spread Throughout
Currently in the US, the staffing ratios for student to teacher vary from state to state. During the 2017- 2018 year, California had an average of 29.3 students per class, while states such as Vermont had only 21.0 students per class on average (National teacher and principal survey NTPS). This large variation between class size numbers shows the open debate of what class size is suitable for education while keeping the large population of states and funding needs in mind, and how there is little evidence backing the most beneficial classroom size for students.
Research Done on the Topic Regarding Education
In order to test the relationship between classroom size and student learning, in the late 1980’s, the Tennessee’s Student Teacher Achievement Ratio project was conducted (Achilles et al.). Within this experiment, students were randomly placed in two different classes, one in which had a population of 22 students, while the other had a population of 15 students. These students were then evaluated on a later date, and according to test scores and other examinations, it was found that students in the smaller class sizes performed up to 8 percentile points higher than their larger counterparts in both math and English standardized tests. In addition to this, even when integrated into larger classroom sizes, they continued to excel as they entered middle and highschool in subjects, showing long term effects upon the education of the students. Also, one of the most impacted groups was the low income community, in which with lower classes, researchers found that this community had the highest rate of improvement and growth. Through this change, the once massive gaps were mitigated and low income students were provided the learning opportunities that many are deprived from.
Benefits not academic related
In addition to the academic achievements, students also were able to more easily participate in class, in which teachers found the students to be more engaged in discussions, less outbursts, and overall a more interactive environment with a lower class size. As well as better behavior, students also were able to develop more socially, and in this less populated environment, students could interact and bond on a deeper level with their teachers and their peers. This allowed for more social development, building both confidence and feelings of community. Lastly, teachers also benefited from lower class sizes, in which they reported higher rates of efficiency and satisfaction with their class. This was assumed to be because of more interactive and deep connections formed with the students, and more efficient learning based on the environment created from lower population sizes with students.
Issues to lowering class sizes
As seen through the research, lower class sizes only have positive impacts. However, that is disregarding funding issues. With lower class sizes, in order to account for the entire population, more teachers need to be hired to teach more classes and extra classrooms to house these extra classes, making this the simple fix of lowering class sizes not feasible for most areas and especially in impoverished areas. However, it still needs to be a priority to help students in their academic prowess, so confusion arises on how to balance classroom size with the funding of the education system. According to the National Education Association, the balance can be cut to having 15 students per classroom as a goal for schools nationwide, and this change can be gradual.
(nea.org)
How We can Help the Cause
In order to help with this push for better academic conditions for both the students and the teacher, there needs to be increased funding for schools, allowing for these changes to be made. Currently in Minnesota, a bill is being passed to increase funding for elementary schools for the sake of lowering classroom populations, showing the importance of the voices of the people to make this change a reality (Flannery). This can be done in forms of petitions, talking with local governors, or simply spreading awareness of the cause.
References:
Achilles, C.M., et al. “Tennessee’s Student Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR) Project.” Harvard Dataverse, Harvard Dataverse, 7 Oct. 2008, dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=hdl%3A1902.1%2F10766.
Flannery, Mary Ellen. “Class Sizes: A Growing Issue among Educators.” NEA, 14 June 2023, www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/class-sizes-growing-issue-among-educators.
“National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS).” National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Home Page, a Part of the U.S. Department of Education, 2018, nces.ed.gov/surveys/ntps/tables/ntps1718_fltable06_t1s.asp.
